Monday, April 22, 2013

Delhi fails to meet renewable energy target: Greenpeace

New Delhi, Apr 22 — Delhi fared worst among 29 states and union territories in fulfilling its renewable energy target by not having even one percent of the installed renewable energy capacity, according to a report released by Greenpeace Monday.The assessment report on renewable purchase obligation (RPO) titled "Powering Ahead on Renewables: Leaders and Laggards" ranks performance of all the states on renewable energy supply and calls for revision of RPO mechanism based on equity principle.The RPO targets are fixed by state electricity regulators to ensure that the state draws some percentage of energy from green sources.The report found that out of 29 states, 22 failed to meet their RPO targets which led to loss of more than 25 percent electricity that was expected to be generated from renewable energy sources in 2012."Very few states have demonstrated the leadership in implementing the RPO framework and fulfilling their obligation on renewables," the report said.The northeastern states of Meghalaya and Nagaland, the hill states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and the southern coastal states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have clearly taken the lead in not only meeting their RPO targets but also generating over and above the targets.Disappointingly, Delhi despite a good potential for solar is a straggler in terms of fulfilling its obligation."The national capital fared amongst the worst with not even one percent achievement. Regulators failed to penalise or implement the directives of RPO in Delhi and in other key states like Maharashtra and Punjab, which fell short by about 50 percent," it said.Notably, performance on renewable in the three major coal bearing states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand was contrasting with the former taking the lead and the latter two falling far behind."This report is an indictment of the whole policy framework around renewables and the dismissive attitude of the government towards it. Delhi as the national capital should have been a trend setter. But it has set the trend in the reverse direction," said Abhishek Pratap, senior energy campaigner, Greenpeace India and lead author of the report.The report further recommends fiscal and policy measures to promote renewable energy projects over conventional electricity.